MCU: 5 Times We Felt Bad For The Hulk (& 5 Times We Hated Him)

Who is the strongest Avenger? For the longest time, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the contest seemed to be between Thor and the Hulk, at least in their eyes. Fans know they have long since been usurped.

By the Hulk’s most recent appearance in Avengers: Endgame, he is hardly as strong as he used to be. That’s what happens when Hulk and Bruce Banner fuse together to form Professor Hulk. It’s a complicated life for the Hulk, which results in plenty of moments to feel bad for him and plenty to hate him.

10 Felt Bad: Natasha’s Message

For the most part, Thor: Ragnarok is a hysterical movie. Despite this, it still allows for plenty of emotional moments. Chief among these include the Hulk witnessing a video message from Natasha Romanoff in the abandoned quinjet.

This results in the Hulk returning to the human Bruce Banner form because the anguish is too much. It’s very wrenching to see the Hulk’s heart shatter over seeing Black Widow once again.

9 Hated: Destroying The Helicarrier

The Hulk’s relationship with Natasha has not been completely rosy through the years. They got off to a rocky start when she recruited him to join the Avengers, and it was exacerbated when Loki’s plan to unleash the Hulk on the Hulicarrier came to fruition.

He jeopardizes the entire initiative and ends up indirectly leading to the death of Phil Coulson and to the near-death of Natasha. What’s worse is that the team knew this was Loki’s plan, and it still happened. It’s very easy to root against the Hulk in those scenes.

8 Felt Bad: Memory Loss

Once the Hulk returns to Bruce on Sakaar, he is clearly in a state of shock. He knows he was the Hulk, but he has no idea for how long or what he’s done in the interim.

It results in humorous moments, like his friendship with Valkyrie. But it also results in some empathetic ones. He just lost years of his life with someone else in control of his body. That’s a very scary thing for Bruce to have to deal with.

7 Hated: Leaving Earth

While it’s easy to feel bad for the Hulk’s reaction to being on Sakaar, it’s also important to remember that he brought it on himself. At the end of Age of Ultron, he ignores the pleas of his team and leaves on his quinjet.

It was a very frustrating action for the fans of the Hulk. Just when it seemed like his rage was under control, he left the planet altogether. At the time, no one knew when the Hulk would appear in the MCU again, and it was an extremely hate-worthy decision, as a result.

6 Felt Bad: Controlled By Wanda

At the very least, fans can understand why the Hulk felt like he needed to leave Earth. He saw himself as a threat that could not be trusted around people.

Earlier in Age of Ultron, Scarlet Witch took control of the Avengers via mind control and gave them terrifying visions. For the Hulk, it resulted in complete destruction in Johannesburg. His rampage was scary, but it was not the Hulk’s fault. And yet, he felt the burden all the same.

5 Hated: When He Looked Like The Guy From Rounders

In 2003, Ang Lee took the Hulk to the big screen in Hulk, starring Eric Bana of The Castle fame. It left audiences disappointed. Five years later, the Hulk entered the MCU with Edward Norton’s The Incredible Hulk. Again, fans were left cold.

Maybe the Hulk just doesn’t work as the lead of his own movie. Mark Ruffalo’s supporting character version of the Hulk operates much better in team capacities, but many fans of the MCU did not enjoy the Norton version whatsoever.

4 Felt Bad: Unable To Love

Many of the moments mentioned on the list so far involve the Hulk’s relationship with Black Widow. Tragically, their relationship can never be now that Natasha has died.

For a while, they did try to make it work, but it was heartbreaking throughout the franchiseto see Bruce lament the fact that he can never have a normal relationship. Not with Betty Ross, not with Natasha, not with anyone. It’s the Hulk’s most tragic element.

3 Hated: Pitching A Fit

The most dialogue the Hulk ever received was in Ragnarok where he spent a lot of his time as one of the Grandmaster’s top champions. Unfortunately, this dialogue matched the infantile level of intellect that the Hulk possesses.

This resulted in him trying to hurt Thor’s feelings and routinely pitching a fit when things didn’t go his way. The Hulk has done a lot of things that are worse than sulking, but that behavior is the easiest to hate.

2 Felt Bad: Arm Damage

Of all the feats of strength that the Hulk has levied throughout the MCU, none was greater than when he wielded the Infinity Gauntlet in Endgame to bring half the world’s population back to life.

Sadly, this left him with extreme damage to his arm that seems like it will never heal. What better time to feel bad for someone than when he nearly lost his whole arm to resurrect half of the world’s people?

1 Hated: Shrinking From Thanos

The whole “Professor Hulk” storyline of Endgame was set in motion by the Hulk’s refusal to play ball with Bruce Banner during Avengers: Infinity War. In the film’s opening moments, he gets handily defeated in a fight with Thanos, and he spends the rest of the movie hiding from Thanos and his henchmen.

It was easy to hate the Hulk when he did nothing to help save the world. Trillions of lives were at stake, and he was too scared to do his part. Fortunately, his redemption would come soon enough.

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